La Réunion 11 - The road of  lava and the flows of the Grand Brûlé 2004 and 2007.

" La route des laves is a great natural theater, where the earth regularly gives fire performances. Each lava flow is an event that reminds men of the challenges they face in living on the territory of an active volcano. "
(Michel Sicre, poet, watercolorist, interpreter of heritages in the National Park)

On the east coast, along the Grand Brûlé dominated by the Piton of La Fournaise, the Route des laves winds its way up and down, trying to adapt itself to the terrain modeled by the lava flows that crossed it in their way to the ocean.
It is the place of some great anger of La Fournaise.

The 2004 lava flows enlarge the island by nine hectares.
On 13 August around 2 pm, La Fournaise erupts. It is not very violent, but the lava flows spread over several kilometers in favor of the Great Slopes. On August 22, the lava crosses the RN2 in four places, and arrived at the ocean on August 25th. Huge clouds of toxic vapors and jets of lava complete the picture.
An exceptional event occurred on August 31: a cone appeared at the edge of the platform of the first flow in the ocean, and projected lava and steam. The eruption stops on September 2 ... to resume two days later, and suddenly stop September 9.
Ten years later, there are lava flows 2004 colonized by mosses and pioneer plants.

In 2007, Le Piton de La Fournaise has a terrible anger ... it is "the eruption of the century" !
 
Between April 2 and May 1, lava fountains burst everywhere, and the lava flows gone down the Grandes Pentes and into the ocean. At the end of a month of eruption, the volume of lavas emitted would be about 120 million m³; The flows reach 60 meters in height, filled with cavities and tunnels, and a width of 1,700 meters.

As a result of this drainage, a major collapse alters the Dolomieu crater.
"On the morning of April 5, you could have walked inside the Dolomieu," recalls Nicolas Villeneuve; 48 hours later, he had collapsed about 350 meters. It is a first: never has such an important collapse been observed by man at Piton de la Fournaise.

The damage to the road infrastructure is enormous, and it took 7 months of studies and work to reopen the road to the lava.

Sources:
- Furnace info - The eruption of April 2007 - link
- Imazpress - It happened on April 5, 2007 - The collapse of the Dolomieu and the eruption of the century told in 78 photos - link

NB: the short descriptions of the eruptions and lava flows 2004 and 2007 are only a brief summary and are not meant to be a detailed description.